Perhaps you have heard it before, that Dachshunde (also known as “sausage dogs” in English) are the typical dog to own in Munich, but why? Here ‘s a little bit of history about the cute, stumpy legged dogs.

The breed originated from Germany and literally translates to “badger dog” (Dachs = badger, Hund = dog) and were used to hunt. During World War I and II the breed became less popular in America and Great Britain as it was associated with Germany. After the war was over the popularity of the dog increased again.

Why are they so popular in Munich?
When the Olympics was held in Munich in 1972, they had their first ever official mascot – which of course was a Dachshund! He was called Waldi and was picked not only because the breed comes from Germany, but also because his qualities reflected on the athletes – perseverance, agility and also stubbornness. The mascot was striped with the colours of the games. Since then the breed has always been associated with Munich and is still a popular dog to own. The breed has also been popularized through TV, for example in crime series as a trusty partner or also on the side of a popular celebrity.

Waldi the mascot. Photo by Marcos Dopico on Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)

Other names and nicknames:
Perhaps you have already heard of different names, such as the sausage dog, or different pronunciations like “Dashhound”.

Here are a couple of other names:der Dachshund (singular) die Dachshunde (plural)der Dackel (singular) die Dackel (plural)der Teckel (singular) die Teckel (plural) – the name is known for when the dogs are especially bread for hunting.
English nicknames: Sausage dog, Wiener dog, Dashhound.

Der Dachshund. Photo by Sergey Urzhumskov on Flickr (CC BY 2.0) .

I hope you enjoyed this post about the history of the Dachshund, I always knew they were popular in Munich and enjoyed researching the history of them.